Sudan’s upheaval brings fears for South Sudan’s peace deal

JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — The military overthrow of Sudan’s longtime president quickly has raised concerns about whether the upheaval will destabilize neighboring South Sudan’s fragile efforts at peace after five years of civil war.

Amid the laughter and applause on the streets of South Sudan’s capital, Juba, moments after the ouster on Thursday, there was worry about what will happen now that Omar al-Bashir, who helped broker a South Sudan peace deal last year, is gone.

“It is too early to celebrate,” Jacob Chol, senior political analyst and professor at the University of Juba, told The Associated Press.

In a month’s time, opposition leader Riek Machar is expected to return to South Sudan to once again serve as President Salva Kiir’s deputy, an arrangement that has ended more than once in deadly fighting.